LONDON: Prompt natural gas prices were flat in Britain on Thursday as solid supply from Norway countered lower output from the Netherlands to leave the system near balanced.
Prices for within-day delivery were trading at 53.00 pence per therm at 1001 GMT, flat with their last settlement.
Prices for delivery on Friday were also flat at 53.50 pence per therm.
With supply flows at about 317.2 million cubic metres (mcm) per day on Thursday and demand expected to be about 320.1 mcm, the system was almost balanced, National Grid data showed.
Thursday's demand was around 9 percent above the seasonal norm of 294 mcm, the data showed.
Gas demand in Britain for power generation was high on Thursday due to forecasts of lower output from wind farms.
Wind power in Britain was expected to be below 1,200 megawatts (MW) for most of the day on Thursday, rising to as high as 5,100 MW on Friday, National Grid data showed.
But the gas system was largely balanced as good supply from Norway helped to offset cuts in production from the Netherlands, which on Friday announced a tighter cap on production from the Groningen field on Friday.
Norwegian imports via the Langeled pipeline, Britain's main sub-sea gas import route, were near full capacity at around 70 mcm/d on Thursday morning, National Grid data showed.
Reuters data showed Norway's natural gas exports to Europe hit a three-year high on Thursday.
Further along the curve, the March gas contract was 0.45 pence higher at 52.85 pence per therm.. The Summer 15 contract ticked up 0.20 pence to 48.10 pencer per therm.
In the Netherlands, the day-ahead gas price at the TTF hub was 0.2 euros lower at 23.48 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh).
The benchmark European Union carbon price rose 0.04 euros to 7.35 euros a tonne on ICE Futures Europe.
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